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Overwhelmed by your law manuals? Study tips and skills for law students!
Good scholars read widely but in a focused fashion. Target you research; it’s the best use of your precious time.
Academic texts exist to support, question or oppose a point of view. You’re not compelled to read them sequentially. Whatever is academically useful to you may appear anywhere in the texts.
Before you do an assignment
Consider:
What are you being asked to do? What are your options and what MUST you do?
What will you choose as your primary academic sources and which secondary sources can you carefully select to add depth and thought to your proposition?
Divide your reading into two stages
Divide your reading into two stages
Preliminary – a short, exploratory phase of reading widely for inspiration.
A sensible-sized final list – enough content to demonstrate you have thought the issues through and found expert opinion and evidence to reinforce your arguments.
A sensible-sized final list – enough content to demonstrate you have thought the issues through and found expert opinion and evidence to reinforce your arguments.
How to skim read
Note the structure of the content – headings and summaries.
Go to the first section you want to read. Examine the opening paragraphs in detail, and then read the first sentences of all subsequent paragraphs.
Go to the first section you want to read. Examine the opening paragraphs in detail, and then read the first sentences of all subsequent paragraphs.
Possible reading strategies
SQ3R (survey, question, read, recite, and review)
The five steps of SQ3R help you think about what you’re reading when you’re reading it.
Survey: seek initial meaning from headings, bolded text and diagrams.
Question: jot down questions based upon your initial survey.
Read: as you read, seek answers to your questions.
Recite: as you find answers, recite or rehearse them so they make sense. Write them down.
Review: review the text to see if there are further answers.
PQRST (preview, question, read, summary, test)
KWL
Another approach to reading is to note
What you know?
What you want to know?
What you’ve learnt from reading?
Increasing your reading speed
If you also want to increase your reading speed, this should be useful.
Don’t increase the speed with which you move your eyes across the page; but do increase the word span for a single fix of the eye to 4 or 5 words. You can do this without diminishing your understanding of the text.
Practise by:
Vertically dividing a page of text into three. Then ensure your eyes fall only in the centre of each of the three sections.
Then practise without drawing lines.
Don’t increase the speed with which you move your eyes across the page; but do increase the word span for a single fix of the eye to 4 or 5 words. You can do this without diminishing your understanding of the text.
Practise by:
Other reading tips
If you’re finding your own academic sources, check for
Provenance: does the content have academic credibility?
Objectivity: is its source biased?
Timeliness: is the material in date?
Presentation: is the material coherent?
Finally, stay motivated. It’s completely normal for students to have to read more slowly and read things over again to understand, summarise and develop their own ideas. As your knowledge of law increases so will your reading speed and ability.
Finally, stay motivated. It’s completely normal for students to have to read more slowly and read things over again to understand, summarise and develop their own ideas. As your knowledge of law increases so will your reading speed and ability.
